Woking Food and Drink Festival 2018: the lowdown

7th June 2018

Voted the Best Local Food Event for three years in a row, the sixth annual Woking Food and Drink Festival looks set to tickle some taste buds this summer.
 

(Image credit: Woking Borough Council, Woking Food Festival)

Taking place from Friday 31 August to Sunday 2 September 2018, the Woking Food and Drink Festival is a free-to-attend, unticketed festival that is bound to whet appetites across Surrey and further afield. With live cookery demonstrations by some of Surrey’s top culinary talents and celebrity chefs, cookery workshops, talks by local experts, live music, street entertainment and more than 80 artisan food stalls serving a cacophony of foodie flavours, there really is something for everyone.

The Woking Food and Drink Festival has made quite a name for itself in recent years, voted the Best Local Food Event by readers of Surrey Life Magazine in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and chosen as the winner for all three years by a panel of expert judges.

Here are some of the not-to-be-missed highlights coming up at the Woking Food and Drink Festival in 2018…

Celebrity chefs and well-known faces

Popular Emmy nominated TV chef Ching He Huang will be in the Tante Marie Culinary Academy demonstration theatre on Saturday 1 September. Known for her modern approach to Chinese cuisine, Ching is a regular guest TV chef on Saturday Kitchen (BBC1), This Morning (ITV) and Lorraine (ITV).
 

(Image: Woking Food Festival Kenny Tutt - 2018 MasterChef Champion)

A couple of BBC1 MasterChef Champions will also be in the demonstration theatre during the festival, including Kenny Tutt (2018 Champion, Saturday 1 September) and Dr Saliha Mahmood Ahmed (2017 Champion, Sunday 2 September). The Gangotra Sisters – winners of BBC’s The Big Family Cooking Showdown series – will be making an appearance too. Lorna Nanda Gangotra (Sunday 2 September) – one third of The Gangotra Sisters – is also a Surrey local – and together the sisters have become known as the Indian Spice Girls!

Another hotly anticipated demonstration will be between Woking-born chef Dan Britten and actor-turned-foodie and Guildford local, Jimi Mistry. After reaching the quarter finals of BBC’s MasterChef in 2008, Dan went on to gain a Cordon Bleu Diploma from the Tante Marie Culinary Academy in Woking. He also won Surrey Life’s Food and Drink Award for Best Local Menu in 2015. Jimi Mistry – known for his roles in EastEnders, Coronation Street and films including Blood Diamond and The Guru – has latterly become more involved in the world of food. Married to Flavia Cacace of Strictly Come Dancing fame, Jimi recently graduated from Leith’s School of Food and Wine. Dan and Jimi have hosted a run of sell-out pop-up food events, and can be found in the demonstration tent at the festival on Sunday 2 September.

Local foodies in the business community will also have the chance to attend a ticketed Business Breakfast event on Friday 31 August at the WWF headquarters in Woking, with Deliciously Ella attending as the keynote speaker.

Plenty of other well-known faces will be hosting demonstrations, workshops and bite-size talks throughout the festival too, including local Michelin star chef Dougie Balish, Steve Drake, Jack Sturgess – the baker, blogger and Bake with Jack owner, and bloggers Stu Henshall and Jessica Vella-Templeton.

(Image credit: Woking Borough Council, Woking Food Festival)

Get stuck in

As well as eating and meeting some famous foodie stars, Woking Food and Drink Festival offers plenty more opportunities for interactivity over the jam-packed three days.

Tante Marie Culinary Academy will be hosting cookery workshops over the whole weekend, with separate sessions for adults and children. Kids sessions will include fun healthy eating ideas such as protein balls. (Book in advance – nominal fee donated to a local charity).

Magimix will be hosting masterclasses to showcase the wonderful culinary creations their products can help devise. (Book in advance – nominal fee donated to a local charity).

The Gastronaut Live is taking place on Saturday 1 September in Woking’s Rhoda McGaw Theatre. These food and science shows for families will be hosted by CBeebies presenter Stefan Gates.

Live street entertainment and music will be taking place throughout the day on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 September, with professional food related street artists including the Cake Ladies, artists, face painting, musicians and bands.

Those looking for a high-end foodie treat can buy tickets for the co-hosted Pol Roger and Seasons Café & Kitchen champagne dinner at The Lightbox on Friday 31 August, involving an amazing gastro meal complete with champagne tastings. Cassidy Dart, Director of Wine at Pol Roger Champagne House and a Master of Wine – one of only 370 globally – will talk through a handpicked selection of six champagnes and a red wine. Award-winning chef Neil Tompkins, who formerly worked at Rules of Covent Garden and Sands Restaurant, has designed a menu to perfectly complement Cassidy’s choice of wines.

As if that wasn’t enough, you can take some culinary inspiration home with you too, after attending book signings by Ching He Huang and Deliciously Ella.

Find out more about the Woking Food and Drink Festival 2018

Read our other summer 2018 related stories:

Inside look: Denbies Wine Estate this summer
Beaverbrook: a sublime summer in Churchill's Surrey bolthole
Godalming highlights: summer 2018
North Downs Way: celebrating 40 years of a stunning walking trail